NL Manager: our own Matt Williams, by a large margin (18 of 30 first place votes). Bruce Bochy, who likely wrapped up his Hall of Fame candidacy with his 4th pennant and third WS title in 2014, finished a distant third.

End result predicting 2014’s BBWAA awards: 6 for 8. My worst prediction season on record. 2010: 8 for 8. 2011: 8 for 8. 2012: 7 for 8. 2013: 8 for 8. I swear I only looked up these links because I was re-categorizing posts and adding in a filter for “awards” related posts :-). Usually its a bit easier to predict the BBWAA electorate in these awards; I suppose that the general evolution of the writers is slowly bringing more statistical analysis into the mix, meaning that the “dinosaur” method of voting is heading out the window. Probably for the better.

Links to other awards, some of which I used to try and track/predict but no longer.

Gold Gloves; no love for the Nats, though Span and LaRoche were finalists.

No more excuses; Trout has more than earned his MVP. Photo Gary Vasquez/US Presswire via espn.com

First draft of this post: May 8th, 2014, just 5 weeks into the season, with the announcements of MLB players of the month and early MVP watch columns from national baseball writers .

My Predictions:

NL MVP: Kershaw over Stanton, McCutchen and Lucroy

NL Cy Young: Kershaw over Cueto and Wainwright

NL Rookie: deGrom over Hamilton

NL Manager: Bochy over Roenicke

AL MVP: Trout over Victor Martinez, Cano, Abreu and Cruz.

AL Cy Young: Felix, barely over Kluber, Sale, others.

AL Rookie: Abreu over Tanaka, Shoemaker, Ventura, and others.

AL Manager: Showalter over McLendon, Yost.

So, how did the major awards evolve this year? Read below for a running diary of the front runners for each major award. It makes for a fascinating read of the season. By my sense, the awards kind of went like this from April to September:

NL MVP: Tulowitzki early, then Stanton, maybe McCutchen, then Kershaw, back to Stanton and finally Kershaw with Stanton’s injury.

The Gold Gloves were announced yesterday: you’d have to be crazy to try to predict those

This year, instead of printing links to writers early and mid-season predictions, I’ll just throw those links into the monthly reviews for context. This post is more like a season-long diary of the evolution of these awards; the sections were written in each month as the season progressed.

April:

Players-of-the-month in April do not very frequently win MVPs, Cy Youngs or Rookie of the Year awards, but we may see a surprise in 2014 thanks to some big-time performances. But here’s where we stand after the first month.

MVP candidates: Still Tulowitzki in the NL (he has a full 1.0 WAR lead midway through the month and had accumulated 4 WAR just six weeks into the season! Even more impressive; he’s hitting ABOVE .500 at home thus far), but Stanton has also been on fire (as my fantasy team can attest). Yasiel Puig may be a lightening rod, but he’s also one of the best players in the NL and has put his name into the NL MVP conversation by winning player of the month.. Jody Donaldson has been on fire in the AL and is getting some notice, but also so has Nelson Cruz, who may be the best FA signing of the off-season. Abreu went on the D/L. Bautista remains the best offensive WAR player in the AL. But by months’ end Trout was near the top of the WAR list despite a “slump.” Edwin Encarnacion cannot stop hitting and is leading Toronto to a big lead in the AL East, and won player of the month in the AL for May, but i’m doubtful he’ll eventually figure in the MVP race.

Cy Young candidates: Cueto still leads in the NL when early front-runner Fernandez goes down to TJ Surgery, despite the Nats tagging him for 8 runs in a mid-May game. Adam Wainwright is quietly having an excellent season, as is Zack Greinke. Jeff Samardzija might be the best pitcher of them all but still has zero wins thanks to the vagarities of the Win statistic (that and his team’s purposelly awful offense). Madison Bumgarner won May pitcher of the month, but doesn’t seem like he’s nearly as dominant as the other pitchers mentioned here. Lastly we need to mention Tim Hudson‘s great start. Scherzer and Tanaka still involved in the AL race, but Mark Buehrle‘s turn-back-the-clock season is gaining notice and Houston’s Dallas Keuchel is having an amazing season for the 110 loss Astros. Meanwhile Felix Hernandez is quietly dominant, posting an 8-1 record out in Seattle. And Yu Darvish is basically unhittable (as the Nats learned in late May).

Rookie of the yearcandidates: Owings remains in the lead in the NL among little competition pending expected mid-season callups (Corcoran’s May #2 is Atlanta’s David Hale, who was demoted to the bullpen after 4 starts when Gavin Floyd was ready to go), but Kolten Wong‘s showing has his name in the discussion (he was May’s MLB rookie of the month). Abreu hit the D/L (and his numbers may be impressive from a power stand point but little else), while Tanaka continues his dominance and takes over the AL lead. Meanwhile the amazing arm of Yordano Ventura pokes his head into this race … and then he got hit with injury. But the new leader in the AL RoY clubhouse may very well be Houston’s George Springer, who hit seven homers in 7 games in late May and is on pace for 40 as a rookie.

MVP candidates: Still Tulowitzki in the lead in the NL, though Stanton probably finishes in the top 3 thanks to his first ever healthy season enabling him to chase 50 homers. Puig has cooled a bit. Jonathan Lucroy has thrown his name into top-5 consideration thanks to his great offensive season tacked on top of his great defensive prownesses. And last years’ MVP Andrew McCutchen has thrown his name into the ring with a great June and the MLB player of the month award. In the AL, Trout’s consistency has giving him the lead over AL east bashers Bautista and Cruz (and he won MLB’s MVP for June). Tanaka will probably get top 5 votes but won’t win; see the Cy Young section for a statement on his “rookie” season. One can only hope that a down year (thus far) for Cabrera will finally eliminate the narrative-driven voting for him over Trout that has occurred the last two years; Trout’s numbers right now eclipse his numbers in his first two years. Meanwhile you have to start giving Jose Altuve some props: at the half-way point of the season he’s leading the AL in Batting Average, Hits and Stolen Bases, each by a considerable margin. I’d have him in my top5.

Cy Young candidates: Wainwright has overtaken Cueto for the NL lead right now, but if Kershaw keeps throwing scoreless innings (he’s on a streak of 28 as of the time of this writing), he’ll move into the lead (MLB just gave Kershaw pitcher of the month for June). Julio Teheran probably earns a top-5 spot thanks to his breakout season. And one Jake Arrieta has added his name to the mix thanks to his pretty amazing turnaround in Chicago. In the AL, Tanaka still leads King Felix, with Texas-based hurlers Darvish and Keuchel knocking on the door but slightly cooling. But Felix was named AL’s June pitcher of the month and would be a no-brainer if he didn’t have the West Coast anti-bias working against him.

Rookie of the yearcandidates: In the NL, no candidates are really distinguishing themselves. Right now Owings remains in the WAR lead over Billy Hamilton (who was named Rookie of the Month for June and is in the lead right now) but neither player is that inspiring. However the eventual favorite may have finally gotten his callup in Gregory Polanco. Meanwhile the AL race almost certainly is looking like a 1-2 International FA contest between Tanaka and Abreu, with Tanaka easily winning right now (though Abreu won June’s Rookie of the Month award). There’s almost no reason to mention anyone else, which is unfair to Houston’s budding stars George Springer and Jon Singleton.

Comeback Player of the Year: This award always flies under the radar, but we have a couple of decent candidates getting some mention. In the NL, Casey McGehee was run out of the MLB thanks to injuries and awful hitting in 2012; after a dominant year in Japan he’s having a nice bounce-back for Miami. And, after just 8 awful starts in 2013, LA’s Josh Beckett is looking pretty dominant so far this year. Tim Hudson‘s come-back year after his gruesome ankle injury earns some mentions. The AL version is harder to find candidates: Passan mentions Joakim Soria and Phil Hughes as early candidates. I like Hughes; 4-14 with a 5+ ERA last year who is having success this year.

Managers of the Year: at the halfway point, we can start to see some clarity in the Manager of the Year (also known as the “guy in charge of the team that has the most shocking W/L record award.” Right now we’re we’re looking at Bob Melvin, manager of Oakland and their best-in-the-majors 81-game record in the AL and (easily right now) Ron Roenicke, who is leading the surprising Milwaukee Brewers to the best record in the NL at the halfway point.

MVP candidates: In the NL, Colorado’s waning playoff chances are knocking down Tulowitzki’s chances, while Stanton continues to produce staggering offensive numbers. Meanwhile McCutchen is coming on strong and may lead Pittsburgh on a 2nd half run. In the AL, the Angels success finally ends the 3-year running narrative based arguments that have prevented Trout from winning an MVP. At this point, if he doesn’t win, its because some bloc of writers has conspired against him. Batista and Cruz continue to be 2-3 on my ballot. At the end of the month, Trout leads the majors in bWAR with Tulowitzki not far behind.

Cy Young candidates: In the NL, it is looking like Wainwright versus Kershaw. Wainwright in the lead now, but Kershaw’s dominance may carry him to the title by the end of the year. In the AL; Felix Hernandez has overtaken Tanaka, who hit the D/L with a partially torn UCL that may force him into Tommy John. Chris Sale has put his name into contention as the #3 candidate right now. Kershaw/Fernandez are 1/2 in bWAR at the end of the month.

Rookie of the yearcandidates: In the NL, Hamilton still holds off Polanco, but the Pittsburgh rookie has been great since his call up. Check back on this race later. In the AL, Tanaka’s D/L trip also may cost him his unanimous Rookie of the Year award, which now goes to the 1-A candidate Abreu. No one else is close; If I had to guess who was #3 in this race, i’d go Springer.

Comeback Player of the Year: Still looking like Hudson and Hughes for now.

Managers of the Year: Still Roenicke and Melvin for now. There’s no other obvious candidates.

MVP candidates: Jayson Werth was named July NL player of the month, but seems like a long shot to get anything other than 5th place MVP votes. Meanwhile previous leaders Tulowitzki AND now McCutchen are both on the D/L and missing at least a month each, so questions abound. Is Puig the front runner now? Stanton? A pitcher? At this point it may end up being Kershaw thanks to some deficiencies in the cases of both these healthy candidates, except that Kershaw missed quite a few starts and many voters won’t even give him the Cy Young nod as a result. And there’s the small fact that apparently sportswriters are starting to place Barry Bonds-level hatred on Puig (I heard a 3rd-party story that does not flatter Puig in the least in terms of his attitude and self-opinion, so this does not shock me). Abreu earned his second AL Player of the Month but seems like a long shot to beat out Trout at this point; the Angels seem set to make the playoffs, removing the “narrative” that has prevented Trout from being the MVP in years past. In fact, the 2nd best candidate in the AL may very well be Felix Hernandez, who won’t win on some ballots because he’s a pitcher. Alex Gordon is starting to get some MVP notice, thanks to his leadership on the suddenly-playoff-bound Royals. I see him as a good top-5 candidate.

Cy Young candidates: In the NL, Kershaw has earned his second NL pitcher of the month award and (despite missing several starts) seems like a lock to win another Cy Young award. Meanwhile in the AL, Grey has earned another pitcher of the month award, but Hernandez and Sale seem to be 1-2 in this race as long as Tanaka stays on the shelf. Corey Kluber has put together a great season, but he’s chasing Hernandez for 2nd place right now.

Rookie of the yearcandidates: In the NL, Mets starter Jacob deGrom has put his name into the hat thanks to a slew of dominant starts, and was just named July rookie of the month. In a weak field, he could push to a victory. But no sooner did he win the monthly award than go down to injury, likely cementing the award for Hamilton. In the AL, not only was Abreu named rookie of the month, he was also named player of the month. The longer Tanaka stays on the D/L, the more Abreu solidifies his hold on this award. Brandon Shoemaker quietly has a 13-4 season for the Angels but may not even broach the top 5 in voting, thanks to the huge glut of quality AL rookies this year.

Comeback Player of the Year: Still looking like Hudson and Hughes for now.

Managers of the Year: In the AL, surprising runs by the Mariners, Orioles and Royals have their three managers (respectively, Lloyd McClendon, Buck Showalter and NedYost) will get some attention. In the NL, I still think Milwaukee’s turn-around keeps Ron Roenicke in the lead.

MVP candidates: In the NL, it was looking more and more like Stanton’s continued massive offensive season was driving the narrative towards his getting the MVP. However, an awful-looking HBP likely ended Stanton’s season on 9/11/14 … will those lost two weeks prevent him from taking the top spot now? It seems so; I’m predicting Kershaw wins both MVP and Cy Young. A pitcher hasn’t gotten the NL Cy Young in more than 40 years. The NL WAR leader-board shows the problem with using WAR as a projection tool of MVP (as Brisbee’s column points out: there’s just no way that NL positional player bWAR leader Jason Heyward is getting the MVP no matter how much you believe in defensive stats. Buster Posey‘s huge summer has put his name into the hat for top-5 candidates. Speaking of top-5 candidates, do you put Anthony Rendon into that discussion? In the AL, there’s just no way Trout doesn’t get the award this year, so we’ll discuss runners-up later on. Brisbee seems to think Robinson Cano will somehow sneak into the discussion but I don’t think so. Victor Martinez‘s excellent/no-frills offensive season should have him getting some top-5 love. Michael Brantley looks to earn some top 5 votes too.

Cy Young candidates: In the NL, Kershaw has solidified his hold on the award. The better question may be whether he also wins the MVP. In the AL I think its safe to say Hernandez-Kluber go 1-2, though a September swoon may cost Felix votes. It could get really close. Expecially after Felix got pounded on 9/23/14 in his 2nd to last start.

Rookie of the yearcandidates: In a weak NL field, DeGrom’s fantastic 2nd half seems to be pushing him over the top of the obvious candidate for most of the year in Hamilton. Kyle Hendricks may get top 5 votes. In the AL, it has to be Abreu, likely unanimously unless a couple of NYC writers do the homer-vote for Tanaka.

Comeback Player of the Year: Still looking like Hudson and Hughes, but this award is unpredictable. Passan’s late Sept column points out a couple of NL candidates to consider, since Hudson’s ERA cratered in the 2nd half. Casey McGhee returned from Japanese exile to have a great season, and Justin Morneau has come back from the DFA heap to nearly lead the NL in batting. In the AL one should also consider former Nats AAA pitcher Chris Young, who has absolutely come back from nowhere to stay healthy an entire year. He should write the Nats a thank-you card for giving him a paycheck to rehab on our dime.

Managers of the Year: I can’t see the writers giving Manager of the year awards to a team like Washington (which was expected to win) nor the Angels (which has a monster payroll and the best player in the game). It may be someone like Bruce Bochy in the NL, who has overcome the loss of his two marquee pitchers and a slew of curious signings to keep the Giants in playoff contention. In the AL, perhaps Showalter deserves some mention for what he’s done in Baltimore … but then again, have we ever seen an AL east meltdown top to bottom like we’re seeing this year? More and more i’m liking what Showalter is doing with Baltimore and a relatively unknown pitching staff and a ton of injuries.

I havn’t been doing many “Ask Boswell” posts lately; its the off-season and long-time Washington Post writer Tom Boswell isn’t generally taking a ton of baseball questions in December. But, its the week Spring Training opens and Boswell is heading down, so we check in on the questions baseball fans may be writing. Here’s his 2/10/14 edition.

Here’s his baseball-specific questions, and how I’d have answered them. Questions edited for clarity.

Q: Into which of your four categories of baseball managers do you expect Matt Williams to fall? And where would you place Buck Showalter?

A: Before answering, you’d have to know what Boswell’s Four Categories are; they stem from an article he published more than 20 years ago. They are “Little Napoleon,” the “Peerless Leader”, the “Tall Tactician,” and the “Uncle Robbie.” See this Oct 2011 chat for some explanations of the types. I would say that Matt Williams is clearly the Peerless Leader while Buck Showalter features as the Uncle Robbie type. I tend to classify managers into just two main categories: they’re either Disciplinarians or Player Managers. I view Williams as a disciplinarian (how could he not be; his nickname is “the Big Marine”). And I viewed Davey Johnson as more of a Player’s manager. You have to contrast one with the next when you change managers to give players a new message … hard is it to find someone who has the characteristics of both sides of that coin who can last for years and years (think Joe Torre or Bobby Cox). Boswell hedges, saying Williams and Showalter both display multiple characteristics … and then seems to back away from his own theory by saying that characterizing people into simple descriptions isn’t entirely fair.

Q: Why were the Nats interested in Grant Balfour if they already have plenty of late innings relievers?

A: Probably because the bullpen was a weakness last year (bymost macro measures about the 19th or 20th in the league) and a bulldog like Grant Balfour would have only made it better. Ask yourself: would you rather have Ross Ohlendorf or Ryan Mattheus going in the 7th or Balfour? Yeah, I thought so. Mike Rizzo has said that he loves making deals in late January/early February because he knows there are deals to be made. Players without contracts as spring training starts begin to panic, and come down from their salary demands. If you could get a closer-quality guy for just a few million a year … yeah you make that deal every time. Yes I know Balfour eventually signed for 2/$12m, but the point stands. There’s players out there right now that would still improve this team, and you never know what kinds of deals may happen tomorrow. Boswell doesn’t think there was real interest … but then says the bullpen needs to improve in 2013. I’m not sure I buy that; I think there was interest but he had a better offer.

Q: According to a Grantland.com article, MLB has been paying the Nats some money to make up for the TV rights “gap” between what they are getting under the current deal and what they “should” be getting. If true, is this an admission by MLB that the current deal is unfair? Wouldn’t it make more sense to solve the situation as opposed to giving money under the table? Is MLB this powerless that they can’t force a solution between the two teams?

A: Well, we delved into this issue in the previous post here; I can’t wait to see what Boswell’s reaction is. Boswell doesn’t say much … he quotes a member of the Nats ownership group who seemed to imply that the solution wasn’t going to be done before Selig retires. But he somehow “defends” the under-the-table payments as MLB being allowed to operate its business anyway it sees fit. Odd answer. I was hoping for an opinion here.

Q: For the last two years, the Nats have seemed to lack something perennial contenders like the Cardinals and Red Sox seem to possess. In short, it was hard to kill them off. You get a lead; they come back. You stay with them for a few innings; they pull away. Is there any validity to this non-statistical assessment? And will the Nats acquire this toughness in 2014 after the experience of overperforming in 2012 and underperforming in 2013?

A: Well, first, I’d clearly say that the 2012 Nats did not lack for the chutzpa; how do you win 98 games and not have the ability to finish teams off? Their season splits that year against the crummy teams in the league were fantastic. If you’re throwing out the entire 2012 season because of Drew Storen‘s meltdown in NLCS game 5 (where, remember, he had a clear game-and-series ending strike missed before giving up the crucial hit that buried the team), well that’s not fair either. However the evidence clearly points to a distinct lack of clutch hitting team-wide for 2013; see this link at Fangraphs to see how the Nats were dead last in batting average in high leverage situations for 2013.

Do you lay some of this on the manager’s head? Certainly I had more than a few complaints about the way Davey Johnson ran this team last year. Will a more hard-nosed guy instill that toughness by default into his team in 2014? Yeah I do think there will be some of that; the will of the manager leading his team. Can’t measure it very well though.

Q: Matt Williams is cited as saying that he is developing new tactics to take advantage of the new rule against runner-catcher collisions at home plate. Any idea what those tactics might be?

A: No idea. Maybe have the pitcher half way up the line ready to trip the guy coming home? Boswell teases the change but refuses to divulge it, instead intimating that it should be obvious to figure out…

Q: What might be the personal dynamics between Luis Ayala and Bryce Harper during Spring Training? Would Bryce carry a personal grudge about his plunking by Ayala, or would he blame the Braves as a team?

A: Hmm. Wow, I didn’t realize it was Luis Ayala who hit Bryce Harper. I remember the “important” plunking being done by Julio Teheran. I’d guess Harper would think it is water under the bridge and would blame the team, not the player. And if he didn’t, he’d have a grizzled vet like Jayson Werth or his new manager to tell him to cool it. Besides; what are the odds of Ayala actually making this team? Boswell agrees.

Q: If the Nats were to make one more move, either through a trade or signing of a FA, what do you think it would be? Where is the biggest need for an upgrade exist in the current roster in your opinion?

A: I’d have to say an accomplished major league catcher for backup may be the biggest need right now. After that i’d say another left handed option out of the bullpen, and after that i’d say some better depth in the infield. Boswell says backup catcher then goes on a 1,000 word tangent.

Q: What do you make of the two year (with huge salary escalation in the second year) deals for Desmond and Zimmermann?

A: The deals make sense in a couple ways: the backloaded contract allows the Nats to maintain their payroll in 2015 without going very much higher in 2014. $30M comes off the books from the end of the contracts for LaRoche, Soriano and Span; now they’ve committed about half of that just in 2nd year pay increases to Desmond and Zimmermann. Both players would probably rather have their pay calculated this way; it makes their annual salaries that much higher as they reach free agency. Honestly I think Zimmermann is going to end up playing elsewhere, while the $11M/year for Desmond is still pretty cheap. In the end I’d sign Desmond to the long term deal and let Zimmermann walk, get the Q.O. draft pick and be replaced by one of the big arms we have coming up from the minors. Boswell agrees.

Q: Do you see the Nats putting enough effort to sign international players outside of the traditional (Dominican Republic, Japan, Venezuela, etc) countries and into the Emerging Markets of Brazil, Aruba, Australia, Curacao? They’re starting to play baseball in China!

A: No, and for years they weren’t putting enough effort into IFAs from the traditional places either. Look at our Big Board at the end of last season: where’s all the home grown IFAs? Solano, Leon and Perez are on the 40-man … but they’re all backups/edge of the 25-man roster guys. There wasn’t a SINGLE international free agent in AAA or AA developed by this team by season’s end. The entirety of these rosters were USA-born/drafted players and/or minor league free agents. Just two had matriculated even to Potomac/High-A; two guys signed in 2007 who are now finally in high-A (one of whom was born in 87 and clearly isn’t a prospect any longer). Look no further than at the WBC Dominican roster to see the value of developing talent out of the DSL. At least we’re finally starting to see some guys creep onto the prospect lists out of our DSL graduate lists, guys like Jefry Rodriguez and Pedro Severino being the two best examples. Boswell didn’t really answer; another tangent of a response.

Q: A.J. Burnett: Wouldn’t signing him make a lot of sense for the Nats (assuming he can be had on a one-year deal)? Detwiler to the pen gives us another quality lefty and he’s excellent insurance for an injury to a starting pitcher. And the Nats saved some cash by backloading the two-year Desmond/Z’nn deals. What’s not to like here?

A: Can’t argue. I’ve got us north of $130M in payroll now for 2014; would he do a 1yr/$13M deal and would Ted Lerner go north of $140M? Maybe if MLB kicked in even more cash than they already are, we could turn it around on A.J. Burnett and have, hands down, by far the best rotation in the game. Is that what this team needs? Burnett > Detwiler, so it’d be an improvement. And Detwiler’s bullpen splits have been great. If it makes the team better, and its just about money, yeah i’d be for it. Boswell poo-poos the deal because he doesn’t want to block the pitching pipeline?! Whatever; the goal is to win the frigging World Series.

Q: I don’t believe Davey Johnson quietly fades into the sunset. Does he still have an official role with the Nats? Do you know if he has other plans? Do you expect you’ll see him in Florida?

A: If I was Johnson, and I knew what was right, i’d stay far away from this team. He’s out, Williams is in, and any lingering around just undermines the new guy. And if I was Mike Rizzo, i’d be thinking the same thing. Give him a scouting job or some BS; just keep him away from the team. Boswell says the exact same thing.

Q: I was surprised by A-Rod’s sudden decision to pull his lawsuit against MLB and, despite all the initial coverage. Why’d he give up now?

A: I think he (finally) got some sage legal advice about his prospects. And I think he finally listened to someone giving him sane counsel. He’s got bigger problems ahead, like who is going to possibly give him a shot in 2015 or beyond… Wow, Boswell trashes him with some vindictiveness.

Kevin Gausman made his MLB debut on 5/23/13 just a year after pitching in the SEC. Photo unk via orioles-nation.com

With no Nats game on Thursday 5/23/13, and with a vested interest in newly promoted Orioles starter Kevin Gausman (my vested interest being that I was considering nabbing him in my fantasy league), I watched his first start against Toronto.

First thoughts; Wow. I know Gausman’s line wasn’t that great last night, but I just pulled up his Pitch F/X data on the night and am impressed. He threw 63 fastballs on the night with an AVERAGE speed of 97.26. By way of comparison, right now Stephen Strasburg leads the majors in average fastball velocity at 95.4. This kid was holding that average velocity through 60+ fastballs and 90 pitches on the night. That’s some serious heat. His mechanics were clean, the arm action easy, and he easily kept his mechanics while pitching from the stretch. Gausman has good size (6’3″ 190) and has raced through the minors to make this debut in 2013, only the 3rd guy out of last year’s draft to do so (Mike Roth, Paco Rodriguez).

He has a fantastic change-up with reverse action away from left-handed hitters (this was what his scouting report said too): 84mph average. That’s a 13mph delta between his 4 seamer and his change up. That’s just silly. In a recent post I posted a table of average velocities for the pitches of some of the league’s top pitchers; the best fb-ch delta out of that group of hard-throwers was Samardzija‘s 11.6 mph delta. Strasburg’s is only 7.4mph difference and he’s considered to have a completely unhittable change up. Gausman’s change is almost too slow; hitters sitting on 98mph may actually have enough time to re-adjust to his change. Though that being said, he got a lot of strikes and some silly swings on the change on the night.

He didn’t really use his curve that much; 11 times out of his 89 pitches (pitch f/x gives him both a slider and a curve, but the speeds look the same and the speed delta has to be a curve; his slider would be nearer 91mph). At one point he threw 4 straight changeups, which directly led to a walk b/c the hitter (Colby Rasumus) knew what was coming and laid off. I bet this kid has never thrown four straight changeups in his entire life. Wasn’t a fan of that At-bat nor the pitch calling from Weiters. He may need to develop a 4th pitch, or at least work on his curve, despite how plus his firs two offerings may be.

The hits he gave up were a combination of legitimate and lucky. Later on Rasmus laced a 2-0 fastball that he could sit on (he’s a dead-red fastball hitter who got a fastball in a fastball count, another poor job of calling that at-bat again from Weiters). Lind wristed an 0-2 pitch for a hit on a hanging curve. He gave up at least two other 2-strike hits when he missed his spot. Lawrie bunted and Chris Davis misplayed the play, calling off the pitcher only to let the ball try to go foul and it didn’t. That led to a bases-loaded no outs situation in the 4th and he was lucky to get out of that with only one run. Even the 5th inning homer he gave up seemed weak; Arencibia didn’t seem like he got it all; it was an inside pitch that he wristed out. He hit the ball 369 feet as it turns out; Toronto is an easy place to hit down-the-line homers like this. Hittracker classified the homer as being “plenty long” and it would have been out of 22/30 parks in the league, so maybe it wasn’t as lucky as I’m characterizing it.

I was slightly surprised to see Gausman get yanked after 5innings. He was through the meat of Toronto’s order and was facing 8-9-1 in the 6th on only 89 pitches. Looking at the score, yes you’d understand him getting pulled. Looking at his stuff and what had transpired? I’d have given him another inning with a short leash (one baserunner and you’re out). Showalter had seen enough though, brought in a couple of relievers who promptly conspired to give up a grand slam to Encarnacion and blow the game. Loss for Gausman in his MLB debut.

Sporting News AL Comeback player of the Year: Prediction: Adam Dunn. Winner: Dunn. Note that there are now also MLB and Players Choice versions of this award, and they do not always agree with Sporting News’ picks. But SN is the oldest version so I’ll continue to guess based on it.

AL MVP: Cabrera wins over Trout; let the internet wars begin! The only thing that surprised me here was the relative landslide victory Cabrera had; he got 22 of the 28 first place votes, far more than I thought he’d get. This result shows what a lot of holier-than-thou bloggers need to wake up and understand; the MVP is NOT the award for the best player. Clearly these people (often rather rudely) do not understand the difference between stats-based analysis and context. Trout played for a 3rd place team; had he never played for the Angels this season … they still would have finished third. Like it or not, voters start their MVP lists by grabbing the best player on the playoff teams, and adjust accordingly. The solution to these arguments may be to create a hitting version of the Cy Young so that Trout can get his deserved due for his fantastic 2012 season.

AL Cy Young: Price wins in a very close race over Justin Verlander, who had almost identical (and slightly better) sabremetric numbers to his dominant Cy Young last year and was the odds-on favorite of the Sabr-nerd crowd to win. I predicted Dickey not because he was inarguably the better pitcher; I predicted he’d win because voters sometimes like to give these awards to the fresh new candidate, and I saw that happening here. Price and Verlander split the first and second place votes almost down the middle, except for one random first place vote that went to Fernando Rodney. The Rodney vote, combined with both Los Angeles voters giving 2nd place votes to Jered Weaver, is the margin of loss for Verlander. Still, this was the closest Cy Young voting race in the history of the award.

AL Manager: My first miss on BBWAA awards in three years. The criticism of this award is that it is less about who actually manages their team the best; it really is given to the team that “surprised” baseball pundits the most. In retrospect, for all the reasons I predicted Billy Beane would get the executive award I should have given more thought to Melvin winning the Manager award. Showalter’s Orioles certainly surprised, and you can squint and say that their record in one-run games is entirely on the manager. But there’s no mistaking that the Athletics out-played their potential far more distinctly than the Orioles did.

AL Executive: No surprise that Beane picks up this award, after flipping 3/5s of his rotation, signing the cuban defector Cespedes and getting Josh Reddick in trade, putting together a team that I thought could lose 110 games but instead won the AL West over two of the most bally-hoo’d teams in the majors. For all the people that chastised Beane for Moneyball, he has risen again after his early career success.

AL Comeback player: I really struggled to pick a winner, thinking that Dunn’s pseudo-rebound from 2011’s disaster was a good enough example, and I got lucky. SN picked Dunn while other AL comeback awards out there went to Fernando Rodney.

NL MVP: Posey takes this race in a landslide, getting 27 of the 32 first place votes. I’m really glad to see Braun get 2nd place despite the stigma surrounding his negated PED test last off-season; he won my “Modern Triple Crown” and was the best hitter in the league. Chase Headley gets deserved recognition and a 5th place vote. Several Nats got votes as expected, but none were factors in the race itself.

NL Cy Young: this race wasn’t as close as I thought it may be, but Dickey beats out Clayton Kershaw for many of the same reasons Price beat out Verlander. Our own Gio Gonzalez comes in a close third; as it turns out, one reporter in St Louis completely left him off his ballot, purportedly because Gonzalez didn’t broach 200 innings. Which makes no sense, since this same reporter gave his 5th place vote to a reliever. *sigh* I hate hypocrites

NL Rookie of the Year: Harper won a very close race over Wade Miley and for good reason; on September 1st you would have said that Miley was the easy RoY candidate. A strong finish combined with Harper’s narrative and probably some east-coast bias gave him the award. One writer completely left Miley off his ballot, but that wouldn’t have made a difference in the voting totals in the end. Another side note: have you ever even heard of the two Washington BBWAA chapter members?

NL Manager: Johnson picks up the “manager of the most surprising team” award relatively easily; there really weren’t any other contenders once Pittsburgh collapsed mid-season.

NL Executive: Rizzo’s Gio Gonzalez trade, Jackson signing and Harper call-up all led to a 17-game improvement and the major’s best record, earning him 2nd place in the overall executive award voting (to Beane) and thus the highest ranking NL executive.

NL Comeback player: Posey was really a no-brainer, and won the award as expected.

I’ll say this in conclusion; the Trout-Cabrera arguments were the most one-sided, rude and biased I’ve seen yet in the whole “new school” trend of baseball writing. Even more ridiculous than the Jack Morris antagonists. And I’m thankful that, after today, I won’t have to read one more “Why Trout is the MVP” article.

Mike Trout is a shoe-in for Rookie of the Year. Will he add AL MVP as well? Photo Gary Vasquez/US Presswire via espn.com

I’ve had a good string of predicting MLB’s major Post season awards in this space. In 2010 I went 8 for 8. In 2011 I again went 8-8 in predicting MLB’s awards, though I missed on predicting the unofficial Sporting News Executive and Comeback Player of the year. I don’t have much confidence in going 8-for-8 this year though; the AL MVP seems way too close to predict, and I have no idea how the Cy Young awards will go.

[Editor Note: I write this in phases over the course of the season, and finalized it in early October. After I wrote this piece some of the awards have already been announced; Sporting News announced Comeback Players of the Year last week. I’ll put up another post talking about my guesses and which awards I got right and wrong in another article once all awards are announced in November.]

Before reading on to my predictions on 2012’s winners, a statement to prevent arguments in the comments section. These are my guesses as to who will WIN the awards, not necessarily who DESERVES them. Invariably there’s a player who plays on a non-playoff or losing team but puts up fantastic numbers (Matt Kemp for the 2011 Dodgers, perhaps Mike Trout this year) who a number of loud pundits say “should” win the MVP. Well, the fact of the matter is that the current voter base absolutely takes into account the circumstances behind a player’s production, and places more value on batters who are in a pennant race. As do I. The MVP isn’t the “Best Overall Batter Award,” which would end a lot of these arguments (since, the Cy Young essentially is exactly the “Best Overall Pitcher Award” and thus is easier to predict); its the “Most Valuable Player” award, and I agree with many who believe that a guy hitting .370 for a last place team isn’t nearly as “valuable” as the guy who hits .320 and leads a team deep into a playoff race. It is what it is; if we want to change it perhaps the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA, whose awards these are) needs to add a category or clarify their requirements.

Secondly, when considering the Cy Young, invariably there’s one pitcher who puts up comparable numbers to another, but one plays in a weaker division so the same Sabr-focused pundits make their holier-than-thou proclamations about how the voter base failed in their picks. And their points are valid. But this is a prediction piece, not an opinion piece, and the fact of the matter is that current voters are still mostly old-school and put value on things like “Wins” and “ERA,” stats that most Sabr-nerds think are useless in evaluating a pitcher.

So keeping those two points in mind, Here’s my predictions for 2012:

AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera. Despite the massive amount of internet baseball material devoted to talking about how great a season Mike Trout has had (mostly looking at his WAR values historically), I still see the voter base placing emphasis on three major points:

Cabrera plays for a playoff team, Trout does not. The fact that the Angels will finish with a better record than the Tigers, or that the Angels clearly played in a harder division? Immaterial to the old-school voter base.

Cabrara won the Triple Crown. And most Triple Crown winners throughout history also won the MVP. The fact that the triple crown is based on 3 relatively flawed statistics? Irrelevant to the narrative of the achievement itself. It remains an incredibly difficult achievement to accomplish in modern baseball’s era of specialized hitters (Ichiro for batting, Adam Dunn for homers) to hit for both average and power in the way that Cabrera consistently does. (Rob Neyerposted thoughts about this topic, quoting random people on the internet with various takes).

Cabrera had a monster finish, Trout did not. Cabrera’s OPS in the run-in months was over 1.000 each of July, August and September. Trout peaked in July but was merely above average in the closing months. Your finish matters (as we’ll see in the NL Rookie of the Year race discussed later on).

Opinions like USA Today’s Bob Nightengale‘s exemplify the bulk of the voter base right now. A few years ago the writers were smart enough to award Felix Hernandez a Cy Young with nearly a .500 record by recognizing more of the advanced metrics in play, but the Cy Young’s definition is a lot more specific than that of the MVP.

This is nothing against Trout; the Angels were 6-14 when he got called up and finished 89-73. That’s an 83-59 record with him, a .584 winning percentage that equates to 95 wins, which would have won the AL West. Trout was the undeniable MVP for me nearly all season. You hate to say it, but when the Angels faltered so did Trout’s MVP candidacy.

The rest of the ballot? Adrian Beltre and Robinson Cano get some typical “best player on best teams” votes. I’d give Josh Reddick some top-5 votes too.

AL Cy Young: David Price, by virtue of his 20 wins and league leading ERA, will squeak out the win over last year’s winnerJustin Verlander. The statistical crowd will point out that Verlander was just as dominant in 2012 as he was in 2011 (when he unanimously won), and that his significantly higher innings total and lead in Pitcher WAR should get him the award. However, as with the AL MVP you have to take into account the voter base. Price won 20 games, that he pitches in a tougher division, that he beat out Verlander for the ERA title. Plus, and I hate to say it, but Price is the “sexy pick,” the guy who hasn’t won before. Verlander is the known guy and sometimes you see voters being excited to vote for the new guy. Its kind of like the Oscars; sometimes an actor wins for a performance that wasn’t the best as a way to “give it to the new guy.” Certainly this contributed to Clayton Kershaw‘s victory in 2011 and we may see similar behaviors again. There might even be an east coast voter bias in play. Jered Weaver,Chris Sale, Jake Peavy, and Felix Hernandez all get some top-5 votes, possibly finishing in that order behind Price and Verlander.

AL Rookie of the Year: Mike Trout, in what should be an unanimous vote. He could (if the MVP vote goes the way many thinks it should) become only the 3rd player ever to win both the MVP and the RoY in the same year (Fred Lynn and Ichiro Suzuki being the others). In the conversation: Yu Darvish (who certainly did not have a BAD year, but drifted mid-season), Yoenis Cespedes (who would win it in most years), Matt Moore (my preseason guess; I’m still shocked he displayed virtually none of the dominance of the 2011 post-season during his 2012 season), Will Middlebrooks (who made Kevin Youklis expendible within just a couple of months of arrival), and amazingly Tommy Milone (who was nearly unhittable in his home stadium and continued his performance from the Nats in the end of 2011). A couple other names in the conversation: Scott Diamond and Jarrod Parker.

AL Mgr: Buck Showalter should get this this award for taking a team that should be a .500 ballclub based on pythagorean record and put them in the playoffs for the first time in a decade. I also think he wins because of east coast bias, since certainly what Bob Melvin and the Oakland A’s pulled off is nothing short of fantastic. Robin Ventura may have gotten some votes had the White Sox held on, but may be the 3rd place finisher.

(Unofficial “award”): AL GM: I almost hate to say it, but Billy Beane. The A’s were supposed to be awful this year, having traded away most of their starting rotation (as explained further in this Aug 2012 post here) and let most of their hitters walk. Instead they acquire a couple of good pieces from Washington, sign the exciting Cespedes to go with a few bottom-barrel FAs, and overcame a 13-game deficit to win the powerhouse AL West. A great story.

(Unofficial “award”): AL Comeback Player of the Year: It has to be Adam Dunn, right? How do you go from the lowest qualifying average in history to career highs in homers and not get votes. Jake Peavy may get some votes after two injury plagued seasons, but he was pretty decent last year and isn’t exactly coming out of nowhere like Ryan Vogelsong did last year.

Now for the National League:

NL MVP: Buster Posey‘s strong finish, combined with his team’s playoff run and his playing catcher gives him the nod over his competition here. For much of the season I thought this award was Andrew McCutchen‘s to lose, but his fade and Pittsburg’s relative collapse from their division-leading mid-season costs him the MVP. The rest of the ballot? Ryan Braun may be putting up MVP-esque numbers but the fall out from his off-season testing snafu will cost him votes (both in this race and for the rest of his career unfortunately). Johnny Molina getting some press too, for many of the same reasons as Posey. Joey Votto probably lost too much time to be really considered, but remains arguably the best hitter in the league.

NL Cy Young: R.A. Dickey was the mid-season choice, was challenged late but his 20th win combined with his fantastic ERA for a knuckleballer makes him the winner. Amazingly, Dickey has pitched most of the season with a torn abdominal muscle, making his season accomplishments even more impressive. Johnny Cueto makes a great case, leading the playoff-contending Reds, but he slightly sputtered down the stretch. Clayton Kershaw quietly had a fantastic year, leading the league in ERA, but as we saw with David Price above, I think the voters like to vote for the new guy. Kershaw got his Cy Young last year; this year is Dickey’s time. Other names in the top-5 mix: Matt Cain, Cole Hamels, Gio Gonzalez and perhaps even Jordan Zimmermann (who got some mid-season attention by virtue of his excellent July). I have a hard time giving the award to a reliever, but the numbers Aroldis Chapman and Craig Kimbrel are putting in as the closers of Cincinnati and Atlanta respectively may be enough to at least appear in the top-5. Lastly, the odd case of Kris Medlen; his WAR puts him in the top 10 despite only having 12 starts. Is this enough to give him some votes? Maybe some 5th place votes here and there. But look out in 2013.

NL Rookie of the Year: Bryce Harper, who won his 2nd rookie of the month in September, finished incredibly strong and took advantage of late-season fades from his two biggest competitors to win this award. The National media buzz on Harper/Trout was never greater than during the season’s last month, and while games in April count the same as in September, the lasting impression is made by he who finishes strongest. Wade Miley has a great case but I think falls short. Cincinnati’s Todd Frazier has had a great season and was beating Harper’s numbers across the board, but he sat once Scott Rolen came back and faded down the stretch. Milwaukee’s Norichika Aoki has had a nice season at age 30, coming over from Japan. I don’t think guys like this (or Darvish, or Ichiro Suzuki for that matter) should qualify as “rookies” but rules are rules. Anthony Rizzo, Wilin Rosario, Matt Carpenter, and Mike Fiers also put up good rookie numbers and may get some 5th place votes.

NL Mgr: Davey Johnson. Nobody had the Nats winning nearly 100 games. Had the Pirates not collapsed perhaps we’d be talking about Clint Hurdle. Don Mattingly had somewhat of a transitionary team playing great early, but the mid-season influx of high-priced talent, and their subsequent collapse costs him any support.

(unofficial award) NL GM: Mike Rizzo, pulling off the Gio Gonzalez trade, signing Jackson in a deal immediately lauded as a great move and quickly putting together a team that looks to be 15-20 games improved over 2011. We thought they’d be in the mid-80s in wins; who thought they could be pressing for 100??

(Unofficial “award”): NL Comeback Player of the Year: Buster Posey. He went from a season-ending injury to an MVP season. In other years Adam LaRoche may get some looks here, but not in the face of what Posey has been doing for San Francisco. Lastly I had Johan Santana on a short list for this award until he was lost for the season in the aftermath of his 134 pitch no-hitter on June 1st. At at point he was 3-2 but with a 2.38 ERA. He finished the season 6-9 with a 4.85 ERA and was shut down on August 17th. Are we sure that no-hitter was worth it?

A slight faltering at the tail end of the season leaves the Nats with the #6 overall pick in next year’s draft. Here’s how the first round will go next year.

Order

Team

Wins

Losses

winning pct

1

Pittsburgh

57

105

0.352

2

Seattle

61

101

0.377

3

Arizona

65

97

0.401

4

Baltimore

66

96

0.407

5

KC

67

95

0.414

6

Washington

69

93

0.426

6a

Arizona

7

Cleveland

69

93

0.426

8

Chi cubs

75

87

0.463

9

Houston

76

85

0.472

9a

San Diego

10

Milwaukee

77

85

0.475

Pittsburgh was 5-6 games “ahead” for the #1 pick for most of the 2nd half. Seattle’s historically bad offense locks them into the #2 overall pick. Baltimore’s late season surge under Showalter cost them a couple spots but gives the fanbase hope for 2011. Arizona’s unprecedented 2 top 7 picks (the 2nd is compensation for failing to sign Barret Loux after an MRI showed a more significant arm injury than anyone knew) should make for a great draft for them. Houston nearly jumped into the mid-teens by having a scorching August but settled down into the #9 pick, just ahead of San Diego’s compensation pick for failing to sign Karsten Whitson (I believe he was diagnosed with diabetes and opted for college instead of going pro).

By “tying” Cleveland (Washington gets the better pick because of a worse 2009 record), we actually jumped the compensation pick of Arizona, which is good news. There is sure to be some good talent in next year’s college pitcher rich draft at the #6 overall pick. (Early draft reviews show possibly guys like Gerrit Cole, Danny Hultzen, Matt Purke, or Taylor Jungmann at that spot). Plus, we may pick up another pick in the first round depending on the outcome of the Adam Dunn offseason (see a previous post here about Dunn’s current TypeB status).